Charlie

I have been listening to Domingo for 50 years, and for the last decade I always expect that the next time I will think, "It's time for him to quit." But I never do. When the time finally comes, sometime around 2035, someone will probably mount a production of Turandot just so he can end his career as the Emperor Altoum.

I tip my barber rather liberally every time I get my hair cut (about once per month), so I see no reason for a larger tip than normal at the holidays.

I tip my barber rather liberally every time I get my hair cut (about once per month), so I see no reason for a larger tip than normal at the holidays.

Mark Alexander probably states his real age on the ad, but most of the photos are the same ones he has used for about ten years.

Unusual name choice: in Greek mythology, Thanatos is the "Grim Reaper," i.e., Death. Of course, one of the old euphemisms for sexual climax was "the little death."

I love the green bean casserole.

I can never forget the masculine odor of the late pornstar Eric Ryan.

It has been years since we have "celebrated" the traditional family holidays, because what family we have lives far away from us. I can't say that I miss it much. The most we do is go out to a restaurant for dinner.

The anal pap test is certainly not pleasant. My gay doctor apologized for the discomfort.

Your memory of his image in his old ads is correct.

Boy, is that a big...umm, truck!

Long ago (more than ten years) I had a first appointment with him in L.A. that I had to cancel at the last minute because of a medical emergency, and I was unable ever to reschedule. However, he was very sympathetic and understanding, which is certainly not true of a lot of escorts under those circumstances.

That caption is clever, but it made me think. Most "American" cars are far from 100% Made in USA in terms of their contents. Do Italian cars consist entirely of Italian-produced contents? I suspect a DNA test of both the young man and that Ferrari might not show quite such perfect percentages.

Usually when I check in on this site in the morning, there are at least five pages of new posts to scroll through. Today there are only two pages. That was enlightening.

Thanks, but I don't have a Mac. That was it! The last time I changed from full screen, I must have accidentally hit the zoom feature (which is next to it) and reduced everything. Thanks.

Can anyone explain why the size of the print on this site suddenly seems much smaller? I am accessing the site on Firefox.

As an added factor, if you get fucked in the ass, you ought to get an anal pap test. I was unaware of such a thing, until my gay doctor insisted I have one, even though I haven't had anal sex since the 20th century. Apparently, the HPV can incubate for many years before rectal cancer appears. As a side note, Medicare covers it for gay men.

The Politics, Religion & War Issues" forum was created because comments on those topics were cluttering up the Lounge, and it was considered a good idea to segregate them in a place where members who were not interested did not have to encounter them, and where members who were interested in using the MB only to discuss those topics could congregate. There is at least one forum in the current site that is open only to those who meet a certain requirement. Why not impose some kind of restriction on those who are allowed to post in the PR&WI forum? Perhaps they could be required to pay a membership fee for the PR&WI forum, and could be expelled if the moderator of the forum felt they were abusing their privileges ("You have insufficient privileges to post here" is already available for use). Paying even a nominal amount does tend to make one appreciate one's privileges more. Although I sympathize with the administrators' exasperation at dealing with some of the nastiness and childishness that takes place in that forum, I agree with Steven K. that simply banning discussion of topics that mean a great deal to many of us--especially those of us who have fought as gay men for the right to talk about those subjects in public--seems unrealistic in a site designed for gay men to talk in private. In one form or another, those subjects will find their way back into the Lounge, and we will be back where we started from.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! I hope you have someone to keep you warm in snowy NYC.

I like to maximize my happiness by combining two objectives. I am usually happy on Thursdays, when we go out shopping while our housecleaner cleans the house, so I am spending money to buy both the things I want and freedom from doing something I don't enjoy. I don't like cooking and am not good at it, so I am also happy when I go to a restaurant for dinner, since I can purchase meals that I like to eat but don't want to or can't make at home.

Yes. We adopted him from the county shelter, where he been brought by animal control after he was picked up as a stray. He had no chip nor any other I.D.. One of the conditions for adoption was that we were required to have him chipped and neutered. He had obviously been raised in a home, because he was in good physical shape and perfectly house-trained. If the previous owners had chipped him, of course, we would probably never have encountered him, so in a way I'm glad they didn't chip him.

Maybe he wants to borrow someone's little Personal Assistant.

When I first glanced at the first photo, I thought Joshua was a woman. Not that there is anything wrong with that. It is actually refreshing to see that it is not what has become the stereotypical gay marriage between two super-butch jocks.

As I have written before, I think Avalon is not someone whom we can reason with. He has chosen his situation, and he would rather talk about it than actually do anything to change it. It may make us feel good to give him sensible advice, but there is very little of it that he will take. When he does, as with the walker, it feeds us encouragement to keep engaging with him, which is all he really wants. If we stop engaging with him, he will probably make one small move, post about it, and people will engage again to encourage him to do more, but he is really playing us.

I forgot about Ed Rendell, because I used to meet him so often before he became an important political figure. He was our neighbor in Philadelphia for a year. I also forgot about another political figure, Kenny Duberstein, Reagan's chief-of-staff and a powerful DC mover and shaker for many years after that, because we shared a dorm bathroom when we were teenagers.